New Marianas Tuna Fishing Venture Pushes Aheadff

A commercial tuna fishing company has pursued its project to start tuna fishing in the Marianas despite an earlier debacle with the Commonwealth Development Authority.

Courtney Zietzke, president of Northern Marianas Fisheries Inc., which recently began its operations on Rota and Saipan, said that Bank of Guam and CDA had rejected its loan guarantee application.

“We were very surprised to learn that a local CNMI bank and the CDA chose not to support a locally based project that would employ local people. That was a very sad day! Our collateral and our business plans were very sound,” said Zietzke in a recent e-mail.

The company was applying for a $600,000 worth of loan guarantee with CDA, which would cover 30 percent of its proposed investment in the fishing business.

He said the company has gotten its funding instead from a bank on the East Coast. He said the bank “is very experienced in the international fisheries business.”

“We are all very excited about this opportunity and know that this business will be a big boost to the CNMI,” said Zietzke.

He said the company’s freezing operations will be based on Rota, with additional operations on Saipan. The operations do not involve canning.

“We will be setting up fish freezing operations on Rota and Saipan. We are not a canning operation. Our sales markets are for fresh and frozen tuna and deep sea pelagic fish,” he said.

The company's local representative is Glenn Manglona, who previously worked for the Department of Commerce.

In an earlier statement, Zietzke said the company will employ local people with high paying jobs.

He said his company will also be working closely with the local CNMI fishermen's co-op association “in order to cross market and sell the fish catch both locally and internationally.”

Northern Marianas Fisheries Inc. owns two commercial, deep-sea, long-line fishing vessels that are scheduled to arrive in the CNMI next month.

The company plans to fish outside the 20 nautical miles surrounding the CNMI area.

It said its operations are HACCP-compliant and is “dolphin safe.”

HACCP refers to Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points, a systematic preventative approach to food safety that addresses physical, chemical and biological hazards as a means of prevention rather than finished product inspection.

The two fishing vessels that are re-locating to the CNMI are the F/V Miss Saipan and the F/V Lady Carolina. Both vessels are U.S. flagged and U.S. Coast Guard-approved, said the company.

The vessels are licensed to fish in the Central Western Pacific EEZ by the National Marine Fisheries Service/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, it said.

Zietzke said all fish will be landed, processed and exported from the CNMI under the brand name Crystal Seas Inc.